Watch this plucky British roadster trounce a million-dollar hypercar
At a tenth of the price, no less!
If you ask your average car geek for one of the fastest cars on sale today, they will likely answer with one of three, seven-figure hypercars -- the McLaren P1, LaFerrari or Porsche 918 Spyder. But if lap records are any marker, a tiny British two-seater should earn its place among the household names.
The Lotus 3-Eleven is a small, topless track car, packing 456 horsepower from a modified Toyota V-6, along with a price tag of about $130,000 -- significantly cheaper than any hypercar. Yet, when Sport Auto's road test editor Christian Gebhardt took the 3-Eleven to Germany's Hockenheimring, it set the track record, besting Porsche's flagship 918 Spyder.
It claimed top honors by a hair -- a tenth of a second, to be precise -- but its victory is no less impressive. Complicated hybrid systems can elicit impressive performance, but Colin Chapman's old quote still rings true if you want a car that can compete with the best of them: "Simplify, then add lightness."
Next stop: Nürburgring! (Hopefully.)